Saturday, February 28, 2004

Two nice items on New York this week:

Item One: Subway Superstar [via Gothamist]



Liah Bianco, a 28 year old Manhattanite was waiting for the subway one morning a few weeks ago and a homeless man knocked her into the tracks. She tried to pull herself out but couldn't. She yelled for help, but no one responded. Finally a man came and pulled her out of the tracks seconds before a train arrived. Leah was so frazzled that she didn't get her rescuers name, and so went to Daily News with her story. Randy Brown saw her picture on the cover and called the Daily News to tell them he was the rescuer. They look very happy to be reunited, don't they? Standard Deviance is very wary of falling down there, so it's good to know that if it ever happened that there are good people out there who will help.

Item two: Push Button Fun [via NYT]



If you didn't know this already, most of those pedestrian push buttons don't work. Many of us busy city people cross streets in the most efficient manner possible, looking at the buttons with disdain as we quickly avoid getting hit by a taxi. However, many New Yorkers press the button and actually wait at the corner until the walk sign comes up. So, if people know the buttons don't work, why do they still push the button? Benjamin Miles (seen above) answered this question as he was being interviewed just a few blocks away from SD headquarters: "Because it's fun."